Hello, I am fairly new to pole lathing so wanted some advice- what are the advantages/disadvantages of having a really long pole lathe bed- 1.7m- does anyone have experience of working on a lathe this size and making things like walking sticks/long chair backs? does it work OK? thanks

The problem you're going to encounter on long, thin spindles is whip - the wood bends, tries to climb up the edge of your tool then drops down causing chatter marks. This can be overcome with practise or the use of a steady of some kind. Could be good for turning the back legs of ladderback chairs, not sure about walking sticks - anyone here ever turned them on the pole lathe? I've seen lathes with long beds with 2 sets of poppets so that 2 people can turn at once.